The effective bound element of a template binding is the macro-expansion of the bound template with the parameter substitutions given in the binding. In UML, the effective bound element may be related to the template binding by a realization.
If the template binding is referenced using an external element reference, then getting the effective bound element for that reference should return an appropriately related element in the model, if one exists. This is useful information for a classifier template, because the effective bound element for a classifier template binding should be considered to conform to its related template binding.
However, getting the effective bound element of a template binding essentially requires the navigation of potential dependencies from the supplier side (i.e., the template binding) to the dependency and then to the client side of the dependency (i.e., the effective bound element). But the dependency end of the supplier-supplierDependency association is not navigable, so there is not necessarily an easy way to traverse it in all implementations of the UML abstract syntax.
Nevertheless, the Reference Implementation should allow for the possibility of an implementation supporting navigation from a supplier to supplier dependencies, or having a strategy to derive an effective navigation, so that, in these cases, the effective bound element of an external template binding can be obtained.
seidewitz
commented
6 years ago
The effective bound element of a template binding is the macro-expansion of the bound template with the parameter substitutions given in the binding. In UML, the effective bound element may be related to the template binding by a realization.
If the template binding is referenced using an external element reference, then getting the effective bound element for that reference should return an appropriately related element in the model, if one exists. This is useful information for a classifier template, because the effective bound element for a classifier template binding should be considered to conform to its related template binding.
However, getting the effective bound element of a template binding essentially requires the navigation of potential dependencies from the supplier side (i.e., the template binding) to the dependency and then to the client side of the dependency (i.e., the effective bound element). But the dependency end of the supplier-supplierDependency association is not navigable, so there is not necessarily an easy way to traverse it in all implementations of the UML abstract syntax.
Nevertheless, the Reference Implementation should allow for the possibility of an implementation supporting navigation from a supplier to supplier dependencies, or having a strategy to derive an effective navigation, so that, in these cases, the effective bound element of an external template binding can be obtained.